MacBook Core Duo Display Replacement

Use a coin or spudger to rotate the battery-locking screw 90 degrees clockwise.

Lift the battery out of the computer.

Remove the three evenly-spaced Phillips screws from along the rear wall of the battery compartment.

Lift up on L-shaped memory cover, slide it to the right, and lift it out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

One 11 mm Phillips #00 in the middle of the case.

Two 14.5 mm Phillips #00.

Remove the following 3 screws from the rear wall of the battery compartment:

Two 3 mm Phillips #00. (A1181 has three 3 mm screws and one 4 mm.)

One 4 mm Phillips #00 on the right side.

Remove the two 6 mm Phillips #00 screws from either side of the right wall of the battery compartment (not the ones closest to the battery connector).

Remove the four 3 mm indicated Phillips #00 screws from the front wall of the battery compartment. When working from the left, remove the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 9th screw.

Remove the following 4 screws from the back of the computer:

Two 7 mm shouldered Phillips on the far sides.

Two 10.5 mm Phillips toward the center.

Remove the two 5.2 mm shouldered Phillips #00 screws from the optical side of the computer.

Starting near the display and working around to the front of the computer, pry up on the upper case. It is held with clips on the right above the optical drive. These will release with some firm lifting pressure.

Be careful when prying up the upper case. It's very easy to slice open a fingertip and thus provide the blood sacrifice the Mac gods sometimes require of those who insist on doing their own repairs.

While holding up the upper case (from the bottom or the top), use a spudger to pry up the orange trackpad and keyboard cable from its connector.

Grasp the white plastic tab attached to the hard drive and pull it to the left, removing the hard drive from the computer.

Remove the two Phillips screws from the front edge of the optical drive.

Disconnect the orange optical drive ribbon cable from the logic board.

Disconnect the newly-revealed display data cable. If there is no pull-tab on the top of the connector, it may be helpful to use a spudger to disconnect this connector.

Disconnect the (once again) newly-revealed hard drive cable.

Peel up the foil tape between the fan and the optical drive.

Remove the 8.5 mm Phillips screw securing the display data cable to the metal framework.

Pull up the display data cable from along the edge of the optical drive to reveal a silver Phillips screw.

Remove the 2.8 mm Phillips screw securing the optical drive.

After removing the screw, push the metal tab backwards, towards the fan, to release the front of the optical drive.

Lift the Bluetooth antenna board from the right side of the optical drive.

Lift the front edge of the optical drive and slide it up and out of the computer.

Remove the following 3 screws:

Two 3 mm Phillips near the right speaker.

One 6 mm Phillips threaded through a hole in a plastic finger above the subwoofer.

Lift the right speaker out of its housing and set it to the side.

Using a spudger, gently pry up the white plastic slot and slide the metal c-channel to the right and away from the display.

Use a spudger to carefully disconnect the microphone cable from the logic board. You'll want to work from side to side, and slowly wiggle the connector out of its socket.

Lift up on the black right speaker cable with one hand, and deroute the silver microphone cable from the silver metal clip just above the right RAM slot.

Deroute the silver microphone cable and gray display data cable from the tabs at the bottom of the subwoofer.

Remove the single 3.2 mm Phillips screw securing the ground loop in the display data cable located just above the Bluetooth board.

Disconnect the two antenna cables from the Airport card, and the black inverter cable from the logic board. (Pull vertically on all three.)

Remove the following 2 screws from the right hinge mount:

One 6 mm Phillips on the left side of the hinge mount.

One 10 mm Phillips on the right side of the hinge mount.

Lift the right hinge mount out of the computer.

Hold the display with one hand while removing the screws from the left hinge mount.

Remove the following 3 screws from the left hinge mount:

One 6 mm smaller diameter Phillips from the right side.

One 6 mm larger diameter Phillips from the middle.

One 10 mm Phillips from the left side.

Lift the left hinge mount out of the computer.

Grasp the display assembly on either side, and lift it up and out of the computer.